This is ridiculous.
It is creating even more work for the teachers, and is not instilling any sense of personal responsibility on the students.
Yes, the promotion rate and graduation rate will increase, but you are doing the kids a disservice by basically telling them "it's ok to turn in late work" or "it's OK to not study for the test since you can retake it anyway" or "your homework grades will only count if they improve your overall average".
This is NOT preparing them for the future because I can promise you if/when they get to college, their professors will not always accept late work, they will not let you retest and they WILL count your assignments regardless of what happens to your grade.
These kids are in for a rude awakening when they leave DISD.
I don't know what the district or schools are rated, but this sounds like a poor attempt to make their schools look better with increased promotion/graduation rates.
For those interested, here are the new policies:
Quote:
•Homework grades should be given only when the grades will "raise a student's average, not lower it."
•Teachers must accept overdue assignments, and their principal will decide whether students are to be penalized for missing deadlines.
•Students who flunk tests can retake the exam and keep the higher grade.
•Teachers cannot give a zero on an assignment unless they call parents and make "efforts to assist students in completing the work."
•High school teachers who fail more than 20 percent of their students will need to develop a professional improvement plan and will be monitored by their principals. For middle school the rate is 15 percent; for elementary it's 10 percent.
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And I realize that teachers have the jobs to teach, but I feel like it's almost unfair to put the teacher in that position: One one hand, they can be true to their students capabilities and fail who they need to, and on the other you can let some kids roll by so that they don't have to deal with the "professional improvement plan" that the last guideline outlines.
I have several family/friends in education, and depending on what area you are in, some kids just don't give a flying squirrel. Why should the teachers be penalized b/c the students are brats?
ETA: Regarding retaking tests, this will likely cause more work for teachers because they will have to come up with more versions of the test. Example, Mary took a test on Monday and failed it, so she can retake the test. Unless the test is graded immediately, between the time it takes the teacher to get the grades out, Mary can talk to Josh, who got a 98 on the test, and get the right answers just in time for her retake test.
Hybrid Mode
